Heather Turns 40

Our niece Heather turned 40 this year and we were able to attend her party. For her present, Jim made her cats in glass. This is model off an actual picture of her 2 cats. Everyone in the family was harassing her to post pictures of them on facebook and she finally got the hint that there was some reason for it.

Ken's Christmas Gift

I made Ken a set of greeting cards out of the retired SU Parisian designer paper. I made a folder to present the cards and for him to use to store them.

Merry Christmas

I gave these cute snowmen to some of my male family members this year. It is a digital stamp that some of the stampers on splitcoast used this year. It is wrapped around a microwave popcorn. The hat and scarf is felt that I had around. The pattern can be found on this blog, http://lauriefurnell.blogspot.com. 

I will be posting some more gifts tomorrow.

Gift Card Holders

Here are some of the gift card holders that I made this year. The part of the card that opens is the SU top note cut folded and short of the top of the die. When you open the top note you slide the gift card into the slits that were punched. I also made one of the Grinch but I guess I didn't take his picture.

Christmas Cheer

I have played at two Christmas concerts and have one more to play tomorrow morning. The concert tomorrow is outside which always adds the challenge of keeping the wind from blowing our music. Lots of clothes pins help. It is also going to be on the cold side so layers for me.

Christmas is Coming

I never post the actual Christmas card that I send to my family and friends because they are for them only. But the blog has to have some Christmas decorations. The flower card is made using the Stampin Up ornament punch with a large brad in the center. The Santa is a stamp I bought a long time ago to use as my Christmas card but never have used it. I love the vintage look that it has. Have you seen the USPS Christmas stamps this year? One of them has pine and cones on it. I may have to buy some more of them and save them. Then I will come up with a design like the pine card shown here and have stamps that match my cards.

December Birthdays

Happy December birthday to our nephew Bryan, our BIL Tim, and grand niece Mia. A special zero birthday this year for our niece Heather.

Cyber Monday

Black Friday has already past and today is Cyber Monday. Christmas shopping has begun and it looked like the past weekend was pretty good for retailers. Sometimes I think that I liked the slower days of days gone by when Christmas decorations didn't come out until after Thanksgiving.

This card has that vintage feel to it. The stamp is from the Stampin Up set Winter Post. Would you believe there is an ice rink set up in downtown Tampa through all of the holidays? I will not be testing my skating abilities though.

Happy Thanksgiving

I bet you think this is one wreath stamp. It isn't though. Look really close and you will see a single leaf and then the other long stuff. I drew a circle on the paper in very light pencil. Stamped the leaf all around the circle and then filled in with the longer stuff. Then I stamped the greeting and took that layer outside. I sprayed it with a gold mist with glitter in it. If you enlarge the picture you can see spots on the white paper. IRL that is the glitter and it really sparkles. Happy Thanksgiving to all my family and friends.

Tri-shutter Wedding

This is a tri-shutter album that I made using Neill's wedding pictures. The picture to the left is the front cover.

You untie the bow and open the two flaps. When you open the flaps, this is what you see first.

Then open it completely to see the far left, middle and then right side. It is difficult to fit the entire album into a picture because you can't see the details. The last picture is my attempt at showing the entire lay out of the album. Since the window is behind it you can see part of the porch. Click on the pictures to enlarge them and see the details better.

Bluebird of Happiness

One of my SILs has a bunch of blue bird glass statues. She loves stained glass too so she would like this blue bird and her babies which will be posted another day. She will never see this post though as she avoids using the computer, although I understand she has skyped recently.

Talking Like a Turtle

Do turtles talk? I don't know about you, but I have never heard one talking to me. For some reason when Jim's oldest nieces were young he pretended to talk to them like what he thinks a turtle sounds like. Yes it was English. I guess I just don't have the imagination that he does. Remember if you go to the beach and there is a turtle nest, stay away from it.

Some Thanksgiving Cards

I love this little chef. I put him on the cards I sent to my family last year for Thanksgiving. I won't be posting the cards I send my family this year since they are just for family to see.

Frog Collection

When Jim was young, he had a volkswagon beetle car that he painted green and decorated with frogs. All his family and friends started buying him frogs. Even as part of our wedding gift, we received a couple of frogs. He still has most of them and a few others that my family added to the collection. So of course he had to make himself a stained glass frog.

A New Home

Our niece and her family are buying a new home. They have had so many hassles with inspections and closing. Hopefully, they will be settled in their new home soon. I haven't been able to send many welcome to your new home cards with home sales the way they have been. I am anxious to send them a card.

Thanksgiving Nears

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just two weeks away. Sometimes I wonder where the time goes. This is a stained glass turkey that will hang in our kitchen window for the next two weeks.

Veteran's Day

My dad grew rose bushes and his roses were beautiful. One year for father's day one of my brothers bought him a rose bush that was cultivated in honor of veterans. The rose bush is now growing in my brother's yard having been moved from our childhood home. He also has some of my dad's other rose bushes and takes roses to our parents grave. He took this picture on memorial day. It shows the flag that the boy scouts place at the grave on holidays along with the veteran's rose that my brother grows.

Happy Birthday

I know I am a little late but I have been busy making cards. I make most of my cards flowery and girly. I try to make more masculine cards but it just doesn't seem to work out and I don't like them when I make them. I hope some of these are a little bit male looking. Happy Birthday Skip.

Get Well Patty

One of my SILs fell the other night and broke her shoulder. She had surgery and is all fixed up now with metal. Of course she is still in pain and has a long road of rehab ahead of her after it heals. Hope she heals quickly.

Belated Halloween Cards

I just realized that I never posted any Halloween cards. So before I post any Thanksgiving cards, I thought I would post some Halloween just a few days late. These are not the cards I sent to my family. Only they get to see them. I was in a swap about a month ago and received a lot of these die cuts as part of the swap so those cards are one of a kind.

Stained Glass Nativity

This still isn't a good picture of the glass nativity set Jim made for Neill. At least it is a little closer than the earlier one I posted. The pieces are made to be placed on a table. Unlike his other pieces, they are not hung in a window.

Asian Influence

I am a tea drinker so of course I was drawn to the tea pot in this stamp set. The detail on the girl's outfit sold me on the set. The third card with the flowers is from a different set but I thought it went well in the picture of the other two cards.

Craft Season is Here

Now that the weather has cooled down a little, it is craft show time. I made so many motorcycle cards for Sunday's show. I put a lot of metal on them. The silver is foil that was run through my Big Kick using some textured plates that I have had for about ten years. They were so hard to use without the big guy but now it is so easy. The copper is metalic cardstock.

Can you see a map on some of these cards? I had doubles of some maps so I cut it up and used it like designer paper.

Summer Returns

First I need to apologize to my Northern family for rubbing it in that cold temps were headed their way. I had mentioned that the humidity was down and 90 degrees didn't seem as bad. The humidity is back. Worse than that, have you looked at the Gulf of Mexico recently? Trouble is on the way in the form of Matthew and possibly Nicole. Since summer has returned, I thought these cards from the SU summer mini and Andrea Walford that I CASED would be a good post for the day.

Fall Holidays

It is hard to believe that it is time for the fall holidays. Fall is in the air even here in Florida where the temperature has dropped to the low 90s. How I know fall is close is the humidity has dropped too and that makes a big difference.

It is hard for me to photograph stained glass, but this give you an idea of what our October pumpkin looks like.

One Sheet Wonder

When the SU catalog retired this past summer, I bought a lot of retired sets and paper from demos. When I saw this paper, I loved it. It is so me; burgundy, flowers, and vintage. These cards are called one sheet wonders because they can be made with one 12 X 12 sheet of designer paper. After cutting the designer paper, it is attached to the card base and then embellished. The paper reminds me of old wallpaper.

Back to School

It used to be that school started the Tuesday after Labor Day. For most students, that is no longer the case and most are back to school by now. Where I taught, we were always back weeks before Labor Day. I no longer go back to school. Yeah! This card is for all my friends and relatives that did go back.

Is It Autumn Yet?

As September approaches, it is time for people in the North to start thinking about raking leaves soon. Not where I live, we rake in the spring. But I am starting to think about some cooler temperatures, low 90s instead of the record heat we had this summer. So for those of you who will be raking, here are some more leaves. For those of us who don't have raking to do, here are some pretty fall leaves to look at.

The Framed Wedding Invitation

As he does for all of the weddings we get invited to attend, this is the invitation frame that Jim made for Neill. The bridesmaids and groomsman wore black. The doves represent the doves that were on the invitation.

As usual, we waited until the last minute to take a picture. These were taken in the motel room, so they are not the best, but you get the idea. Remember you can click on the picture to see more detail.

August Birthdays

The August birthstone is peridot. Our August family birthdays are a father and daughter. Happy Birthday to John and Heather.

Wedding Gift

As part of Neill's wedding gift, I made a scrapbook tin. I know I have published others here, but this one I like the best so far. The bride and groom hearts are the front cover. When you open it you see the flower. More of the inside is shown too. The very last page of each column are the towels. I had to do two different views. They loved the second view.

Do you get that the Mr towel is

on the floor in a mess?

I found the idea for the bride and groom hearts and towel on splitcoast. My friend Whitney taught me how to make the tins and I put it all together using a SU scrapbook kit that is now retired.

End of the Month Birthdays

We have two family birthdays coming up soon. I haven't been posting as much as I used to so I want to mention them now while I am thinking of it. Sue's nephew Jack and Jim's sister Mary have birthdays near the end of next week. Happy Birthday to both of you.

Get Well Lisa

My friend and card class teacher is in the hospital for some planned let's just call it work. Today's cards are for her. As I look at them, I see one stamp set that is not SU, but Inque boutique. Sorry Lisa but I got a whole set for a dollar and can't pass up a deal like that. I do think all the other stamp sets and papers are Stampin Up..

July Birthdays

The birthstone for July is the ruby. Family birthdays for July include Jim's sister and her son, Jim's nephew obviously. Sue's nephew has a birthday this month too. I borrowed a friend's SU Crazy Cupcake set to make these cards. The cupcakes are suppose to be in a bakery and the checked paper on top in an awning.

It's the Rainy Season

Usually before the wedding, there is a bridal shower. I am not sure if there will be any showers for Jim's nephew. I guess it really doesn't matter to us as we would not be attending because of distance. But, we will be attending the rainy season here at home. Our yard sure can use some rain so I hope our daily rains start soon.

Another Wedding

We have another family wedding coming up this year. One of Jim's nephews will be getting married. This card could be used for an engagement card. See if you can get the idea of the card.

You are standing outside of a bridal shop looking into the window at the beautiful dress inside the shop.

Happy Birthday Deb

Deb turns 39 today for about the tenth time. She loves anything purple, so here are two cards with shades of purple for her. The one she got in the mail however had green shades on it.

Happy Birthday Ken

Today is my brother Ken's birthday. This is a card I made for him many years ago. If I were doing it now, The piece of music paper would still be torn irregularly, but it would be a little bit bigger. I also would put a greeting in the lower right hand corner. The flowers and hummingbird were embossed by hand. I now have a machine that would do it in a matter of seconds.

June Birthdays

The birthstone for June can be either pearls or Alexandrite. These are freshwater pearls and pearl sticks that have been dyed a peachy color.

Family birthdays this month include my brother, Jim's sister, and two nephews

Graduation Time

Yesterday was my nephew Bryan's high school graduation. It is hard to believe that he is now an adult. This isn't the card I will be sending him. I don't want him to see it yet and I am waiting until it is closer to his party to send the card.

I sent this card to Scott, another nephew who graduated from elementary school. The front was embossed and then sponged to look like a tree with a hole in it. When he opens the card he will see what was peeking out of the hole. I saw a card on splitcoast that was similar by Diane Cramer and I adapted it to the supplies that I have.

Happy Birthday Judy

Today is my SIL's birthday, but she will never see this card on the blog. She does not touch a computer. This card is suppose to give you the impression of standing outside of a bakery shop and looking into the window. The top where the greeting is attached is the awning.